Watch good television

I don't watch a whole lot of tv anymore, but I must admit that for the first time since TGIF in 3rd grade there are exactly 4 shows that I must watch on a weekly basis. They are: Arrested Development, The Office, The Daily Show, and the Colbert Report. On any given week I might watch Law and Order: SVU too, but that comes on TNT several times a weekend.

Sadly I admit that I actually do get my daily news from both the Daily Show and Colbert Report, but anyone who watches has to admit that this is not necessarily a bad thing. I get to hear political news reported a bit to the left of center, just the way I like it. Besides, I'm really getting sick of the "fake news" label these shows have and the way that Jon Stewart constantly talks about "not taking it seriously" or "just joking." That clearly is not the case anymore. These shows do actually report real happenings in the world. Back in the Craig Kilbourn days "fake news" may have been the appropriate label (although it was still funny), but now these shows have become the blueprint for satire. And no matter what the satire is pointed towards, whether it be Bush, terrorism, the way news is reported, or organized religion, the message is always real and not "fake." In other words, Jon Stewart would likely not have poked a considerable amount of fun at the nomination of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court had he not actually believed it to be the wrong nomination, etc. Of course, to anyone as devoted to Comedy Central as I am this article is trite. I just hate hearing the phrase "fake news," and think these shows should take their influence on the voting public a little bit more seriously. In fact, I would not be opposed to seeing people like Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert on CNN and the other powerhouse news formats more often. They could just walk onto these sets like badasses and pretty much say whatever they want (possibly in pirate costumes). Remember Stewart on Crossfire last year? He completely ripped Tucker Carlson a new one and people loved him for it. Why not more of that? GET ME MORE OF THAT.

Of course, the Daily Show and Colbert Report really have no competition in the satire genre. There are, however, people who try. Even within the confines of Comedy Central there is another show trying to pull off the "fake news" bit, only with a lot less efficiency. The show is "The Showbiz Show," hosted by David Spade. Whereas Colbert and Stewart handle the news in general, Showbiz is more of a satire on Access Hollywood and other celebrity news. Make no mistake, though, this is by no means a new bit for David Spade, and in this case it is done with awkwardly to say the least. Back when Spade did both "Hollywood Minute" and "Spade Across America" for Saturday Night Live the material was relatively brash and seemed to attack all celebrities equally. Back then Spade was just a New York SNL cast member writing comedy on a weekly basis. Then he had some film and tv success and his new Showbiz Show sucks. The jokes are flaky and seem like they are avoiding anything unexpected. But then again I was pretty young when Spade was on SNL, so I'm really biased.

And then there's that Adam Corolla trainwreck. Why is that guy still relevant in comedy? Who is he? Do people think he's funny? Honestly...

And also, Tucker Carlson is a dick.